Intonation in commands

1. Low Fall tone in commands sounds very powerful, intense, serious and strong. The speaker takes it for granted that he will be obeyed, e.g.:

Try the other key.

Come and have dinner with Tom.

2. High Fall tone suggests a course of action; the speaker doesn't worry whether he will be obeyed or not, e.g.:

Put some more milk in it.

3. Short commands pronounced with the Low Fall sound unemotional, calm, controlled, often cold, e.g.:

Take it. Stop it.

 

Intonation in disjunctive questions (tags)

Disjunctive questions consist of 2 parts. The first one is a statement and is usually said with the Falling Tone. The second part can be of 2 types:

1. Falling Tone is used when the speaker expects agreement and doesn’t ask for confirmation, e.g.:

You know him, don’t you?

You weren’t there, were you?

Lovely weather today, isn’t it?

He’s a nice fellow, isn’t he?

(I think he’s a nice fellow.)

2. Rising Tone is used when the speaker is not sure if the information is correct and is asking the listener to check it, e.g.:

They weren’t speaking German, were they?

 

Before a tag, there’s usually a short pause.